Fangio set the fastest time in practice with Hawthorn and Moss lining up alongside him on the front row of the grid but it was to be a sad session as Marimon crashed on the fast downhill section before the bridge at Adenau and was killed.

As expected there was a vast crowd on race day but Gonzalez was not going to allow Mercedes-Benz all the glory and took the lead at the start. Moss disappeared early with mechanical trouble while Kling drove through the field from the back of the grid and was soon fourth behind Gonzalez, Fangio and Lang. Fangio duly took the lead and after Lang spun off Kling moved to second and then overtook Fangio, ignoring signals from his pit. Ferrari in the meantime decided to call Gonzalez in and handed his car over to Hawthorn. Kling went out with a broken rear suspension having had his moment of glory and so Fangio won the race with Hawthorn second, while third place went to Maurice Trintignant in his Ferrari.